


gotta be green, gotta be mean

by alaynes



Category: All For the Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Canon Compliant, F/M, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-27
Updated: 2016-02-27
Packaged: 2018-05-23 11:15:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6114775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alaynes/pseuds/alaynes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Matt has no idea how to ask Dan out, so he asks the rest of the team for help. The results are not quite what he expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	gotta be green, gotta be mean

**Author's Note:**

> story title comes from Grace Kelly by Mika

"So," Matt starts, pressing his head into his hands and looking hopefully up at Seth. "What do I do?"

Seth gives Matt the sort of look that he has come to associate with amusement. He's glad to know this is all very funny to Seth—and of course it would be. Seth is in a sometimes-relationship, and it may only be a _sometimes_ relationship, but that's more than what Matt has right now. So what if the parameters of Allison and Seth's being together are not quite what Matt wants for himself and Dan? That is not the point.

Besides. Seth has wooed girls—well, one girl that Matt knows of, at least, and Allison doesn't look like the sort that's easy to court. That has to count for something, right?

"You have to show her that you're a real man," Seth says, like that means anything at all. Matt's face falls. So much for good advice.

"What does that even mean?" he asks, keeping his voice down as he notices the girls entering the athletes cafeteria. They probably won't head for him, as Allison and Seth are not together right now, but he doesn't want them to hear this. He definitely doesn't want them to know that he, Matt Boyd, has to ask _Seth_ for tips on how to ask Dan out.

It isn't that he has no idea what to do, really—alright, no, he has no idea what to do. Because Dan is this amazing, this brilliant captain and a _great_ friend and a super supportive person and also, really, quite beautiful, and Matt could go on and on and on about her. And Matt. Matt is damaged. He's the weakest player on their line at the moment, has some baggage he can't quite let go of, and has spent most of the nights in the last few months camping out on Dan's (and the other girls') couch because he can't deal with his roommates' drug habits. To make it worse, he hasn't ever really _dated_ anyone, either.

"You know, show off. You work out, I know you do. So show her what you've got going for you."

Matt stares. "How do I do that?"

"Take your shirt off. Maybe do weights where she can see. Do both at the same time. Girls like to know you're strong." At Matt's unblinking stare, Seth makes a face. "If you didn't want to take good fucking advice, why'd you ask?"

"No, no, I do. But are you sure that will work? I don't think Dan's—"

Seth snorts, thick with contempt. Seth makes no secret of how little he likes everyone on the team, older or younger to him, even if they are the captain. Matt thinks this is ridiculous, because it's impossible to dislike Dan (and Renee, for that matter), and worse to disrespect her, but he can't call Seth out on that now, when he's asking him for advice.

"Trust me. It'll work."

* * *

Dan likes to think that after the (somewhat disastrous) first time that left Dan's stomach somewhat wiggly and kept Allison's eyebrows at the top of her hairline for half an hour, Dan has gotten used to the sight of Matt's bare chest.

The first time had been a shock, because Matt is—well. Fit as the proverbial fiddle, and then some. None of the guys on the team are in less than great condition because of the considerable workout that Exy gives them all, but Matt is something else. After the first time, Dan and the girls learned to live with it. It's a necessary evil, to have to see Matt without a shirt sometimes, and if Dan enjoys it more than ordinary, then there's no one to ask her about it (at least until the girls notice).

In any case, it happens often enough. Matt's room is next to hers, and the team sometimes does things together— _very_ rarely, and it usually ends with the boys saying something nasty that makes Dan want to blacken their eye. More often, it's because Matt kips out on their couch, and spends half the day with the girls regardless. Dan's used to it now.

But _this_. This is ridiculous.

Matt steps out of the showers after practice with only half his shirt on. It's a button-up, and Matt has it entirely unbuttoned, and one arm not quite in the sleeve. This is not ordinary. This seems, to Dan, fairly out of character for Matt, who doesn't usually walk around half-dressed.

"Um," Dan says, "I think you've forgotten to button your shirt."

Matt gives a laugh, which also sounds kind of not-him. Dan raises an eyebrow. "Are you alright, Matt? You seem a little _off_." He isn't sweating or red-eyed, and Dan doesn't know all the signs of drug use, but it couldn't be that, right? Matt's been avoiding that since he got here, and she's sure he wouldn't have given in now, when nothing's wrong.

There's commotion in the direction of the lockers, and then, out of nowhere, a dumbbell rolls out somewhat noisily, rolls through half the room as if aimed straight for him, and stops near Matt's foot.

"Where did that come from?" she asks, as Matt bends over to pick it up. When he's fully upright again, arm now even less in his shirt, he lifts the dumbbell—casually, easily. He even grins at her, to show how effortless this is to him.

Dan abruptly realizes what's going on.

"This is mine," Matt starts to say, and the tone of his voice is smooth and somewhat smug. He doesn't sound like himself. "I wo—"

Dan turns around and walks away.

* * *

Matt's plan was to drop the dumbbell down on Seth's foot, but when he actually goes to do it, he can't. This thing is 30 pounds, and he doesn't want their starting striker to be off the court for a month while his foot heals because of this. Instead, he leaves the weight in a corner of the room where no one can trip on them, and takes two angry strides toward Seth.

"That," he says strongly, "was terrible advice."

Joseph and Patrick, two sophomores who usually hang around Seth, burst out laughing in an excellent imitation of hyenas. Seth sits up, gives him a sneer, because this is Seth, and he doesn't really care how this ends—unless he's bet on it. Matt wouldn't be surprised.

"It's a foolproof plan. If it didn't work, it's because you fucked it up, Boyd." Matt thinks privately that _if_ Seth had done it, Dan would not have simply walked away. Maybe she would have punched him.

At least she hadn't laughed. _That_ , he thinks, might have been worse.

One of the sophomores, Joseph, speaks up. "Listen, dude, you can't just show off your pecs and expect her to come flocking to you. We're not fucking birds. You have to show girls that you can protect them. Like with Seth and Allison—that one worked, didn't it, Gordon? And _how_!"

Matt has heard that Seth and Allison initially hooked up after Seth saved her from being assaulted at a frat party. Seth doesn't say anything about this, though, and Matt feels quietly vindicated. Guess it bothers him when it's him and his girlfriend being talked about— _not_ that Dan is Matt's girlfriend. Or maybe ever, because after that terrible stunt with the shirt and the weights earlier today, he would completely understand if Dan doesn't want anything to do with him again.

Joseph looks at Matt, and nods, looking completely serious. "I'm serious though. You gotta show a girl you can keep her safe."

"I'm sure Dan can keep herself safe."

Joseph rolls his eyes, like this is the most obvious, or the most ridiculous, thing in the world. "That's not the point, man. Girls want to feel protected, you know? All that cuddly stuff. They want to feel warm, safe. You've got big arms. Defend her with them, and she'll fall right into you."

* * *

The Foxes' third match of the season, against the Wilkes-Meyers Hornets, ends with their victory. It's the first match they've won this season, and they won it by the skin of their teeth, but they still won it. It was a dirty match, though, and Dan can see the Hornets' tempers running high.

But the Foxes don't have to be afraid of the Hornets, so they all gather near center court for something a little like a group hug—its mostly just cheering, with some of the juniors and sophomores patting each other on the back, Dan and the girls hugging, and the first years whooping in joy. It's not quite right, but it's the best this team has gotten to an actual group hug, and at least they're celebrating.

The cheer of winning is somewhat subdued when the Hornets pass by them, grimacing. One of them, a striker that Dan had crashed into twenty minutes earlier, leaving what must be a growing bruise on his shoulder, mutters under his breath as he passes by them. It's low enough to count as talking to himself, but loud enough that Dan, and half the team, can hear him.

"Whore" is not something Dan hasn't heard before, and also not something that she listens to anymore. She's not ruining her night—a night of victory for the Foxes, for _her team_ —by picking a fight with someone too scared to call her a name to her face. If she fought with everyone who called her something offensive to her back, she'd never stop. If he had the guts, he'd say it to her face. She's prepared to leave it and leave him be, when Matt speaks up.

"Hey, what the fuck did you call her?"

"I called her a whore, just like she is. You got a problem with that?"

"Matt," she starts out, but he isn't listening. Dan makes a face, steps closer to him, narrowing her eyes as he doesn't back away. After this, she's going to tell Matt exactly what she thinks of his _protecting her virtue_. He takes a step forward into the striker's face, looks down on him. Matt stands just an inch over the striker, and is considerably larger than him, so the striker backs away—but not without throwing a parting shot over his shoulder.

"Guess we know who's fucking who on the Foxes," he says, and some of his teammates laugh along like this is hilarious. Dan rolls her eyes, ready to turn away and leave the Hornets to themselves. She has dealt with too much garbage from her own teammates last year to take this from someone so obviously bitter.

Matt does not turn away. "You piece of shit," he says, and then she sees his arm go up for a swing. She latches on before he can hit him, pulls him back.

 _Now_ she's angry.

"Matt," she says, keeping her tone clipped. "Leave it."

"But he—"

"I said leave it."

She drops his arm, and then turns around and strides away, fuming.

The thing is, Dan likes Matt. She likes him as a friend and a teammate, sure, but she likes him in other ways, too. A little. She doesn't like him enough to do anything about it, and in any case she doesn't want to get into any kind of relationship. Dating would only make people say that she needs a man, that she isn't enough on her own, which is ridiculous. But she likes that Matt is respectful, that Matt has never looked down on her or the other girls, that Matt isn't afraid to show that he's vulnerable sometimes, that Matt has never insulted her old career, that Matt does not objectify (her, or any other girl).

She does not like that he want to fight on her behalf, when she was ready to turn away. It's always uncomfortable, having people— _men_ —defend her like she can't do it herself. It's worse because it's Matt, who should have stopped when she told him to leave it the first time.

Matt has followed her, she realizes, when he calls out her name from behind. She turns around, not hiding her anger anymore, and he takes a step back. "What the hell was that!"

"He called you a—" at this, he breaks off, looking uncomfortable. Dan crosses her arms, raises her eyebrows.

"Called me a what?"

A second ticks by. Then two. "A prostitute," Matt says after a few seconds. He looks sheepish, but Dan is angry now—an embarrassed expression isn't going to sway her.

" _Don't_ try to fight my battles for me. I don't need you to defend me, Matt. If you think I do, then I guess you don't know me at all."

After a second, Matt nods, whispers a low "I'm sorry," and keeps his distance. Dan spends the rest of the night fuming silently.

* * *

Dan is treating him perfectly normally, like last week and the disastrous end of that Hornets match never happened. Matt's lucky—she could have stayed angry, but instead she lets go of her irritation and everything is mostly normal. 

Most of the time, anyway. A few days ago, when he wanted Renee's help with a small cut and had to go into their room shirtless, she had given him a very careful look that had made Matt wince inwardly. It's awful that he's made her wary of him, but it's his mistake. The lesson to be learned is, of course, that Matt should give up asking people for advice and hold out on asking Dan out until he's certain she's okay with the idea of it and him.

So when Joseph and Patrick come up to him, grinning wildly, Matt sits up, already shaking his head. "No," he says firmly. "Whatever it is, I don't want to know."

"Listen, man, what happened that day wasn't your fault!" Joseph says.

"Yeah, bro, it was totally ours. We completely misunderstood Dan! She's not a knight in shining armor type of girl at all."

Matt frowns at this, because that's not quite true. _Matt_ should have known better, shouldn't have taken the advice, but this isn't Joseph's fault for suggesting it. It's Matt's, for acting on it. He should have known Dan better than to believe she needed or wanted defending. But _he didn't think_.

Well, he's thinking now. "No, it's my fault," he says. "I shouldn't have thought she needed any kind of protecting."

"Exactly! She doesn't want a knight. What she wants is the _opposite_ of a knight."

Matt rolls his eyes and shrugs their arms off his back. "Listen, you can't speak for Dan, and I don't want you guys' shitty advice, so leave me alone."

"That kind of thinking is how you stay a virgin 'til you're forty, Boyd. You have to give a girl what she wants! And if Dan doesn't want a knight to protect her, well, then she wants a bad boy."

Matt doesn't say that he isn't a virgin, because that isn't something he wants to discuss with these two. " _A bad boy_ ," he echoes instead, wondering if Joseph and Patrick hear their own words, how ridiculous they sound.

"Yeah. You have to pull her pigtails—figuratively speaking. Make fun of her, give her a bit of a challenge." Patrick said.

"We believe in you, dude! You can do it!" Joseph added.

Matt looks from Patrick to Joseph and back, shrugs and gets off the couch. It's a terrible idea, he's sure, but it can't hurt. In any case, it's not much worse than lifting weights around her to impress her.

"Give her your worst, man! Show her you're a bad Boyd!"

* * *

Today's afternoon practice was uncomfortable in all ways. The two boys in Dan's year had got into trouble with Malcolm, a junior who regularly got violent with anyone who spoke against him. After separating them, Dan feels more than a little worn out, and absolutely ready to go to her room and sleep. Even if she really should study.

"Dan!" she hears, and turns around to see Matt jogging up to her. When he gets to her, he pauses for a long second and gives her a bright-eyed look that has her feeling wary. She hopes with all her heart that this isn't another terrible wooing attempt—that was what the shit after the Hornets' match was, according to Allison, who had heard it from Seth. Dan is ready to take Allison's word for it, but she hopes Matt had given it up.

"What's up?" she asks, raising her eyebrows.

Matt stares at her for a second, and as she watches his expression goes from some kind of confidence to something wavering to something embarrassed. "Uh. Never mind!" he says after a second, and runs, actually runs away.

* * *

One afternoon, while Matt tries to study over the noise of Seth playing video games, two first years on the football team come up to him, looking a little bit scared for their lives.

"Malcolm's calling you," one says, voice hushed in what might be terror.

The only junior on the Foxes team apart from Seth is Malcolm, someone Matt usually goes out of his way to avoid. According to Dan and the girls, Malcolm is one of those who went out of their way to give all of them plenty of shit for being girls in a male-dominated sport, and Dan in particular even _more_ shit for being his captain. Matt doesn't like him, and usually avoids him, which isn't hard as he spends most of his time with the football team. He doesn't want these two to get into trouble with Malcolm, though, so Matt follows them to Malcolm's room.

Malcolm shares this room with Joseph and Patrick, but there's no sign of any of their stuff. When he enters, Malcolm is smoking on the couch in the middle of the room, and blows the smoke straight into Matt's face.

"So I heard you were trying to ask Wilds out."

Matt wonders why he asked any of his teammates for help in the first place. They're all terrible, spend no time outside of practice with the girls, and all their suggestions have led to more trouble than they're worth. Ready to end this conversation already, Matt says, "Yeah, so?"

"You've been asking the wrong people for help, Boyd." He makes a lewd gesture in the air, and Matt clenches his jaw. Malcolm doesn't seem to notice, and continues, "Girls like Hennessey, see, they don't want your respect. They want you to look at them—"

Matt slams the door as he leaves.

* * *

"Apparently Malcolm wanted to give Matt advice on you," Allison says, walking into their room with three cartons of ice-cream. Dan makes a face, because _Malcolm_ is possibly the biggest asshole she's ever met. Last year, when Dan had joined as captain, he had been the biggest and nastiest source of her problems. She can't wait for him to graduate  
(or fail).

"I'm sure Matt knows not to listen to him," Renee says with a smile, taking a carton for herself and passing one to Dan. It's _Mocha Almond Fudge_. Dan grins.

" _I_ wish," she says, looking up, "he'd give up on this thing altogether. It's pointless, I'm not going to go out with him."

"But you do like him," Allison says, now setting up the movie. The movie was Allison's choice, which is probably why the ice-cream isn't. "And we've all seen the way he looks at you, Dan."

She makes a face. "That's not the point! I'm not interested in dating anyone. Besides, all guys are the same. When he gets that I'm not interested in sleeping with him, he'll drop it." Or worse, of course, but Matt is definitely not that type. Whatever it is, she knows how he reacts if—no, _when_ she rejects him will cement her opinion of him. She only hopes he isn't a complete idiot. She didn't think he is, but getting help from _Malcolm_?

Renee smiles at her, shakes her head. "I think you'll find Matt isn't exactly like everyone. Hopefully he'll see sense and stop asking for useless advice."

Dan rolls her eyes and digs her spoon into the ice-cream hard. "You both had better not be betting on this," she grumbles. Renee gives her a wide smile, and Allison all but cackles.

* * *

Allison and Renee are maybe even more intimidating than Malcolm, in part because they are Dan's best friends. The other parts are simply their own powers of intimidation, which are not a small thing to begin with.

"Just be yourself," Renee says.

"And stop taking advice from those idiots. If she agrees to go out with you, it's because of you, not because you impressed her with whatever shit they told you to do."

Matt opens his mouth, then closes it. He wonders if it was that easy (but also that hard, because being yourself in front of a woman you like is infinitely, _infinitely_ harder than cheap tricks) all along.

* * *

Matt calls to her after practice again, and this time she doesn't exactly feel wary. Probably because Matt isn't looking off, is fully clothed, and isn't looking like he's ready to spout some ridiculous line at her, but completely like _himself_. That's good. He runs a hand through his hair, smiles. "I was just wondering if you'd like to get dinner sometime."

Oh, and _this_. There's something about the way he asks it, with an attempt of casual, in an unpracticed way that is entirely his and not at all fake or put-upon, and this is what Dan likes about him. Sort of likes. _Not_ , of course, enough to say yes. ' _No_ ,' the word is on the tip of her tongue, but her mouth is frozen shut. Allison had told her that he had even gone to the girls for advice, which in Allison's opinion was what he should have done to begin with. Dan thinks that might have been a bad idea, because the aftermath is wreaking havoc with her heart.

"You're wasting your time," she says eventually, because this at least she knows to confirm. This is an important part. "I don't put out."

First, he looks surprised, and Dan's ready to walk away—but it goes into relief so quickly Dan can feel her resolve falling, falling. "No, that's—that's good," he says, stuffs his hands in his pockets. Dan doesn't want to press her lips together, doesn't want to uncross her arms, do anything that shows she might be giving in—she doesn't know if she wants to give in, either. (Except that she does. A little.) "I'm not ready for that kind of relationship yet. I just want to spend time with you. I want to get to know you better. I think you're amazing." It comes out a little rushed, a little nervous even, but it comes out so _honest_  that Dan doesn't know what to do with it.

"Why should I believe that?" Dan asks, trying not to choke on the truth of it. "Why should I believe you're different from any other guy?" _After that shit you pulled,_ she doesn't say.

"Don't take my word for it," Matt says after a second, like he understands. "Find out yourself one day at a time."

She takes a deep, deep breath, and wonders how Allison and Renee are always right. Finally, she says, "One dinner."

Matt's smile is not a grin, but it's bright enough to make her heart stop anyway.

**Author's Note:**

> the last scene is from nora's blog, because it was too cute not to keep?  
> if you liked this (or thought it was terrible) hmu at neilexysts on tumblr!


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